Priyanka Baheti
Managing weight, sans any doubt, is one topic that most adults are obsessed with. We do spend considerable time discussing “what to eat” and “what not to eat”. While being adults we can experiment with different ‘health food’ options, but what is indeed a daunting task is to deal with kids’ weight issues. While kids will always be kids, it’s really a parent’s headache to deal with their weight — some are underweight, and others are overweight, challenge is to balance it out.
[h1]Food is a fad[/h1]
Children always want to eat what they see on TV. They usually salivate for junky food items, for obvious reasons. You have to take them to restaurants. So eating out becomes a routine and gradually an obsession cause once they enjoy outside food, they don’t like to eat simple home-cooked food.
[h1]Lunch box..Where is the time?[/h1]
These days most parents are working and they hardly get time to prepare elaborate meals to pack in a lunch box. Kids are mostly out, and have lots of activities before school or after school. Mostly they end up eating out and the lunch box consists of “ready to eat” or “easy to make” items.
[h1]Healthy is boring![/h1]
Once they start munching on junk food, how do you make them understand that home-cooked meals and fruits and vegetables and salads are a must for them? After all, nobody advertises health food on TV, it’s all about satisfying your taste buds.
[h1]Exercise[/h1]
While there is a serious dearth of playgrounds and open spaces, fact is kids these days don’t like to sweat it out. They like to play video games or fiddle with the laptops or tablets, but they don’t like playing out. It’s a must that you encourage them to take up some sport.
[h1]How to make things work[/h1]
- Make sure you pack the lunch box with fruits, veggie beans, rice or simple roti-sabzi.
- Make sure at least one meal is a family-meal. Make sure they don’t watch TV or read books while eating.
- Try to involve them while you go grocery shopping or while you cook
- Let them make Salad platter for lunch or dinner. This way they will be interested in food.
- Keep them active. Make them exercise for 20 minutes everyday. Accompany them to park or swimming pool. Play cricket or badminton with them.
- Prefer fresh food to frozen food
- Make sure they prefer an apple to a burger or apple juice to colas.
